I was hesitant to sign up when I first heard about it but it's great web site for tracking your expenses, net worth, etc. This month I'm going to go through and categorize all of my transactions so I'll know exactly how much I'm spending and on what.
Anyone else use Mint.com?
- Thread starter bank5
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CuppaJoe
Moderator Emeritus
Apparently, yes. It has been discussed on these and other threads:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/tracking-expenses-with-online-site-31288.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/online-quicken-software-now-free-40920.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/mint-com-new-online-personal-finance-site-30095.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/tracking-expenses-with-online-site-31288.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/online-quicken-software-now-free-40920.html
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/mint-com-new-online-personal-finance-site-30095.html
Cool thanks. I need to start using the feature.
I just read through those links but there wasn't much posted about mint.com. Now that it has more recognition, I wonder if more people are using it or if people are still hesitant.
dex
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ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
I'm pretty sure Yodlee is the engine that mint.com (and some other financial sites which let you look at "external" accounts) uses as well.
freebird5825
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
You took the words right out of my mouth. TY for saying that.
We all have online account information here and there, but to link it all together at one site may merit some serious reconsideration.I had been using Mint but my Chase accounts stopped updating. Given that the CC I use is Chase based it made it pretty much worthless. They are coming up 60 days without an update to these account. Sending in a question to the support team returns a form letter "we're working on it" but nothing explaining what they are trying to do to resolve the issue. They keep passing the buck to their "provider" which is Yodlee. The lack of support is what killed it for me.
I switched to Quicken for tracking and hope that Mint pulls it together. Mint has a better interface and much better tracking and reporting of investment accounts.
I switched to Quicken for tracking and hope that Mint pulls it together. Mint has a better interface and much better tracking and reporting of investment accounts.
Amethyst
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I suspect my use of such sites would be plagued with the same problems that finally stopped me using Vanguard's "Dashboard" feature:
My financial institutions keep changing their security requirements without warning; as a result, I'll log onto my dashboard only to find that there's a "problem" with one of my accounts, which I then have to spend an hour or more, tracking down and unraveling. This happened often enough to cause serious annoyance.
Thus, I've returned to the Stone Age, by creating my own spreadsheets and tracking our accounts one by one from their web sites.
My financial institutions keep changing their security requirements without warning; as a result, I'll log onto my dashboard only to find that there's a "problem" with one of my accounts, which I then have to spend an hour or more, tracking down and unraveling. This happened often enough to cause serious annoyance.
Thus, I've returned to the Stone Age, by creating my own spreadsheets and tracking our accounts one by one from their web sites.
growing_older
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I cannot imagine that there is ANY online company I would trust with all my account logins and passwords. I will NEVER use this, or any other, consolidator.
It's even a bit of a stretch to imagine my financial life even being complicated enough that I would want to, quite aside from the insurmountable security issue.
It's even a bit of a stretch to imagine my financial life even being complicated enough that I would want to, quite aside from the insurmountable security issue.
Yeah, it is a little scary. Doing any banking online is kind of scary. The Mint CEO talks about the security here - How Mint Personal Finance Management Protects Your Financial Safety - Financial Calculator | Mint.com
He mentions laws (specifically regulation B) that protect consumers from online bank fraud. Does anyone know anything about it?
REWahoo
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give
Bank5, if you want to get a feel of how folks on the forum view giving their information to Mint or other 'consolidation' online sites, why don't you do a poll?
growing_older
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"Mint asks for the online accounts and passwords, but doesn't store them." he says. So when you return to the site, how is it that your account information is displayed? I suspect that it's because Mint doesn't store your account info, but the back end processing company which they use for lookup does.
I find this splitting of hairs about Mint not being the one to store the info to be deceitful. They clearly mean for you to believe that the info is not stored, but it looks like it is stored, just not by them. It's stored by a third party you know even less about. It makes me distrustful of their other statements and I think I'll need to watch out for other language tricks - why would I want to get involved at all?
YMMV. But definitely not my kind of thing.
I find this splitting of hairs about Mint not being the one to store the info to be deceitful. They clearly mean for you to believe that the info is not stored, but it looks like it is stored, just not by them. It's stored by a third party you know even less about. It makes me distrustful of their other statements and I think I'll need to watch out for other language tricks - why would I want to get involved at all?
YMMV. But definitely not my kind of thing.
If someone somehow broke into my mint account they can't see thing like account numbers and passwords. They could see stuff like:
Bank of XYZ checking: $1234
Bank of ABC credit card: $1234
Schwab Money Market: $5678
Vanguard -
Total Intl Stock: $1234
S&P 500 Indx: $5678
You can't click on an account to re-edit an account number or anything. You can add new accounts or repair links to existing but you'd be entering new information all over again for each one.
You can't move money anywhere either, so it's not like someone could transfer money to their checking account if they did break in.
Bank of XYZ checking: $1234
Bank of ABC credit card: $1234
Schwab Money Market: $5678
Vanguard -
Total Intl Stock: $1234
S&P 500 Indx: $5678
You can't click on an account to re-edit an account number or anything. You can add new accounts or repair links to existing but you'd be entering new information all over again for each one.
You can't move money anywhere either, so it's not like someone could transfer money to their checking account if they did break in.
growing_older
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Where do the balances in your display come from? For example, XYZ checking - how does Mint know that the balance is $1234?
Mint uses yodlee, a company that does account data services for many large banks and investment firms.
Obviously your account information is stored somewhere in a database. My point above was that mint itself isn't an avenue forgetting to log off at the internet cafe or having a key logger at the library while you use mint is going to expose you to financial damage, except maybe someone realizing you've got lots of money.
Sure, maybe someday a hacker can break into yodlee. Or your bank, or fidelity, or vanguard, or your email account with all those juicy electronic statements. But worrying about that sounds like my Mom, who still refuses to bank online because she's worried about security of it all. She's right technically I mean the bank's database is there to be broken into anyway but using the internet to manage her account does expose her to a little more risk.
Obviously your account information is stored somewhere in a database. My point above was that mint itself isn't an avenue forgetting to log off at the internet cafe or having a key logger at the library while you use mint is going to expose you to financial damage, except maybe someone realizing you've got lots of money.
Sure, maybe someday a hacker can break into yodlee. Or your bank, or fidelity, or vanguard, or your email account with all those juicy electronic statements. But worrying about that sounds like my Mom, who still refuses to bank online because she's worried about security of it all. She's right technically I mean the bank's database is there to be broken into anyway but using the internet to manage her account does expose her to a little more risk.
